watch. >> while i was writing one of the rules my pen, it kind of like exploded on me. >> i felt like, oh, my gosh i hope we get it back soon. martha: i hope we get it back because we won't know the rules if we don't get it back. bill: what will we do? martha: they sound like pretty good rules stphaofplt wha. bill: what a variety we had today. who knows what will happen tomorrow. "happening now" now is now. jon: brand-new stories and break brag. jenna: bizarre details of a notre dame football star who mourned the death of his girlfriend who we now know never excisioned. new fallout in the gun debate today as the president's latest move to curb gun violence draws a whole lot of criticism. the latest in the jodi arias murder trial, members of the jury starting to ask very interesting questions of the prosecution and their witness. it's all "happening now."

we are going to begin with that stunning story from the sports world that really everyone is talking about. notre dame linebacker manti te'o now says he's the victim of a very cruel prank. his girlfriend of three years, who he had previously said to everybody had died of cancer never really e ised. we weren't expecting that twist. good morning i'm jenna lee. bill: i'm jon scott. they say the heisman trophy runner-up was the victim of an elaborate hoax. we expect to hear from the 21-year-old te'o later today. he says he met the young woman online and spoke to her on the phone but they never actually met her in person. there is another tragic twist to this story. let's get right to mike tobin in our midwest bureau. what is going on in south bend right now, mike?

>> reporter: you know, jon, is this an internet scam, a college guy epl bell hreurbing about a girl he never met or some attempt at promotion. the athletic director at the university of notre dame is standing behind his starline baker make manti te'o was the victim of a scam and nothing about this shakes the faith of the athletic director as to manti te'o one iota. >> the thing i am most sad of, sad about is -- sorry -- that the single most trusting human being i've ever met will never be able to trust in the same way again in his life. that's an incredible tragedy.

>> reporter: te'o released a statement, part of it says, to realize i was the victim of of someone's sick joke and constant lies was and is painful and humiliating. still there were the images from the games which after a good play he would point to the heavens with two fingers as if to acknowledge his late grandmother and his girlfriend who passed away. this is girlfriend was fictitious. he did interviews in which he enhanced the interview, saying i'm going to see them again. the grandmother and lennahy kekua. he never met lennahy kekua, he never did. the picture on the internet is a picture of a girl named reba who is very much alive. bill alive. jon: the media ate this story up the whole time it was going on. >> reporter: it was the perfect story. you had heartbreak and tragedy, and someone percenter srerg through all of this. the accounts went into such detail about the romance, of their first meeting at stanford

in 2009. of course that never happened. the organization that broke the story about the scam, dead spin.com reports their first interaction was over twitter in 2010 with a twitter account at lovalovalovau. they went into further detail about this lennahy kekua being in a coma and a phone being held up to her ear and her breathing increasing when she heard the sound of te'o's voice. nine out of ten doctors will tell you that your breathing won't increase if you are just pretend. still, through all of this no one called the hospital, no one even checked to see if the local newspapers had bun an obit. jon. jon: it is a very strange story and apparently we don't have all the answers yet. mike tobin thank you. jenna: more on that as we get it. breaking news this hour. conflicting reports out of algeria where a hostage situation seems to be reaching its boiling point. but, again it's a very fluid

situation at that. americans are said to be among hostages that have managed to escape islamist terrorists at a natural gas complex, this as an on going military strike on the facility leaves other hostages reportedly dead. greg palkot is live from london, following the story since it broke. what is the latest we know. >> reporter: it has been a fast-moving and shifting story certainly for the past couple of hours. what we can say for certain according to a variety of reliable sources is that there is an algerian security operation now underway to try to free the hostages, including americans being held by islamist radicals linked with al-qaida at this algeria natural gas complex. now that operation could include, we're told, helicopter gunships, ground troops, as well as explosions, and a lot of confusion, which is probably why the claims, the numbers that we've been hearing all morning have been quite wild. first we heard from an algerian

government source claiming to one media in algeria that as many as 25 foreign hostages were freed. and then a short while after that we heard from the militants talking to another regional media outlet saying that 35 hostages were killed, as well as 15 captors. now we're getting some word from the official jeer yan government media, and they are putting out this line and it's tamping down a bit. they are saying four foreign hostages have been freed, they include british, irish, but no mention of americans. eyewitnesses not related to either side are also talking about dead, both hostages and captors. remember we are talking about anywhere from three to seven americans who were believed to have been held by these militants. as for any american involvement right now in this operation we are getting late word from my colleague jennifer given at the pentagon that there is a u.s. drone overseeing this operation

and maybe feeding information, certainly back to the u.s., maybe relaying it to the algerians. at least we are keeping an eye on things. jenna: earlier this week you were talking to us a little bit about mali and north africa and what is going on with the islamist groups there that are gaining more control. talk to us a little bit about the situation in mali and the reaction thus far. how does it tie together? >> reporter: well it's all related, jenna. we're talking about these al-qaida-linked militants that took these hostages. they have plainly said that this is in revenge, or this is to try to create an end to a french-led operation in mali, a west african country right next door to algeria. the french troops are going after, as we speak, on the ground, in almost hand-to-hand combat, going after more islamist militants who have taken over portions of that country. the americans are looking to assist in some way, at least from a logistical standpoint,

but it's not quite clear how deeply involved the u.s. will get. i've got to tell you, jenna, the u.s. is firmly fixed on what is going on in algeria. again, wild claims on both side, what we can tell you again, and ongoing serious algerian security operation to try to free the hostages, which might end up well and might end up a little bit messy. back to you. jenna: we'll stay close to this story. state department briefing in about an hour. hope to see some more news on this. greg. thank you. jon: bad news for one of america's biggest companies. bow inks dreamliner and the faa now taking action against that plane grounding the 787s until the company addresses the battery fire risk. europe, japan and india making similar moves to keep the new jetliner from flying. dan springer is live in seattle. dan. >> reporter: yeah, jon the grounding is a major blow to boeing and the airlines that have sung billions of dollars

into this plane of the future. airlines around the world are scrambling to bring in jets to replace the 787s that are not allowed to fly right now. that's led to flight delays and cancellations. many passengers have been stranded, their plans in limbo. for the most part they've been saying, better safe than sorry. >> i'd rather have to fly either tomorrow or sake som take some flights tonight by different airplane lines than put in the risk of anything happening, you know. >> reporter: the faa's directive followed an emergency landing of a 787 in japan yesterday. a lithium eye on battery below the cockpit overheated and hot chemicals sprayed out of it. a different battery i cracked open the other day. they have to prove the dream lean iris safe before it can fly

again. the battery manufacturer told reporters it could take months just to figure out what the problem is. we know that the electrical system on the dreamliner is advanced, and along with the mostly composite body, really the key to it being much more fuel-efficient than any other plane, which is a big selling point, pwoeupbg issued a statement saying we are confident the 787 is safe and we stand behind the overall integrity. we will be taking every necessary step in the coming days to assure our customers and the traveling public of the 787's safety and to return the airplanes to service. in just over a year dreamliners have flown over a million passengers without any injuries or crashes. the last time the faa grounded a plane was in 1979 after a dc-10 crashed in chicago killing everyone on board. jon. jon: and boeing stock taking something of a hit today, dan, about 1% down so far on the day. not good news for that company. dan springer. thanks. jenna: the f.b.i. joining a search for the man suspected a

shooting a police officer and robbing several banks on the west coast. up next the latest on the manhunt for the ak-47 bandit. the president raising the stakes in the gun control battle with sweeping new executive actions. we'll take a look at the president's proposals and why some say they trample on the second amendment. that is coming up next here on "happening now." almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] over a third of a day's fiber. fiber one.

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take control of your retirement today. ♪ ♪ jenna: right now, here is a look at a few crime stories we are watching for you today. a former ivy league professor who pleaded guilty to fatally beating his wife as she wrapped christmas gifts it getting paroled from prison. he served five years for voluntary manslaughter in philadelphia. again, getting out on parole. the f.b.i. is offering a hundred thousand dollars, a reward for the so-called ak-47 bank

robber. they say the suspect has robbed banks on the west coast and is wanted for shooting and injuring a california police officer. a u.s. soldier accused of killing 16 people in afghanistan will be arraigned today for murder. his name, robert bales. he's charged with gunning down mostly women and children in two villages last march. jon: the high stakes fight over gun control now, with new fallout today after the president unveiled his plans nearly two dozen executive actions, touching on a broad range of issues, including improving existing background checks and gun safety. to ban high capacity magazines. and bana salt rifles. new york state says you can have no more than seven cartridges. what will happen nationally we don't necessarily know the

president's executive actions on gun control also include a mental health component, pushing for improved mental health services and better coverage, with the president saying he wants to make access to mental healthcare as easy as access to a gun. it also directs the centers for disease control and prevention to research the causes of gun violence and asks congress to give the c dc-10 million dollars to further study the relationship between video games, media images and violence. the president also says he will send a letter to healthcare providers making it clear that federal law does not prevent them from reporting threats of violence to police. it also will address any legal barrier has might prevent states from making mental health information available for gun background checks. more on that with bob sue sack in just a few minutes. jenna: certainly a big story for us today. we are also following new details about the bizarre kidnapping of a five-year-old girl. she was snatched from her classroom at school and later

found safe but scared in a playground. police revealing new details about the suspects in this crime. we are going to have that for you coming up. notre dame linebacker phapblt r-r te'o expected to speak out today about what his school is calling a hoax, but what certainly has raised some eyebrows around the country. he claims he was duped by an online girlfriend who never actually existed. peter shrager from fox sports.com weighs in next. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him twongs -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll wk his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and me from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, nd he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

jon: new details on a bizarre kidnapping of a five-year-old girl take friend her school in philadelphia earlier this week. police are searching for a machine and woman involved in the kidnapping. the little girl was found safe

we are happy to report. rick folbaum has more for us now. >> reporter: this ordeal for the young girl began monday morning not long after the start of the school day. a woman wearing muslim garb came to her school, said she was the 5-year-old's mother and said she was taking the girl out for breakfast. none of it was true, but it was enough to convince the staff to let her go with her. instead of going to breakfast the girl was in fact kidnapped, taken to a house. she was told to remove her clothes, she was tied up and blindfold eld with the help of other person, a man. here is the local police captain. >> we do know he was inside the residence and joined his female abductor in restraining this child through the night until the next day. this little girl suffered, you know, conditions that no child should endure. >> reporter: at this point this young girl was either allowed to leave or escaped herself from the house, it's not clear. someone found her tuesday morning wearing only a t-shirt,

shivering at a local playground. physically she is okay and she is back home with her real family. meantime police are looking for the two monsters who are responsible for this. we have descriptions for you. the woman is said to be in her 20s. 5'5" to 5'8". police say she may be pregnant. we mentioned she was wearing muslim-style clothes. greenish eyes and dark hair and may go by the name reshida. the male, white skinned, possibly white. mid 30s, short brown hair. last seen wearing sweat pants and a blue t-shirt. there are a couple of numbers you can call if you have any information that may help the police. the first one is the victim's unit. the second number on the screen is a number you can call to leave an anonymous tip. you can also text the police in philadelphia as well. and there are two rewards, one is a $5,000 reward from the local police union for the arrest of one or both of these kidnappers, and jon the citizen's crime commission also

offering a $5,000 reward for any information that leads to arrests and convictions in this awful case. back to you. jon: let's hope they get them, rick, thank you. jenna: breaking news on one of our top stories of the day. college football star manti te'o expected to speak later today about what is now called an elaborate hoax. the notre dame linebacker says he met a woman online, had a relationship with her on the phone and online for three years, and then was devastated last fall when the young woman died of leukemia. this very much became part of his narrative as a football star who lost not only his grandmother, but also his girlfriend, according to what everyone was told. now we learn that the girlfriend never really exited. peter shrager is a senior national writer for fox sports.com. he's talk being to us on the phone as he's working on a piece related to this story. curious on your take of all this. >> it's the crazist sports story i've ever covered.

you don't come across things like this. the wildest part and you've kind of addressed this. sports illustrated, espn there were long profiles, tear re-i'd pieces before a football game all about manti te'o and this girlfriend who apparently never existed. everyone was duped. te'o included. and dead spin.com which is a journalistic watchdog sites came out with a report and said we did our investigation, this girl never existed. the question now is, how did this get by everyone? as a journalist myself, my question is, you know, if a 21-year-old kid says my girlfriend died of leukemia, do you go and ask for a death certificate? everyone was duped on this. and that was the narrative all season long for a fantastic notre dame season. he's number two in the heisman voting, part of the reason is, look what he overcame, look at this amazing story, his girlfriend and grandmother dies in the same week and goes on and leads his team to a national championship game. it's a wild story not so much in

the sidelines of the yard markers of a small field but for everything going on off of it. jenna: the big question about fact checking, where were the journalists checking out this story, it's one that is raised and we'll discuss it today. the other question is who is complicit. the university is calling it a hoax. dead spin, the source of this breaking story also seems to suggest that manslaughter manti te'o may have known, that his family may have known, that the university may have known earlier than they let on. what do you think about that when we ask the question who is complicit. who do you think is? >> i don't know aupl the facts yet, but i'm working on it. let's just consider this. it's a new age in online date being. i don't have any experience on all this. here is a guy dating a girl for three years. he says he met her in 2009 after the sanford notre dame game in person. he said that after many interviews. he's known her for three years, she's going through leukemia

treatment. he lied about meeting her at the stanford game. if you have a girlfriend for three years, again there is no pictures of you, no time ever met in person, you never visited her there are a lot of question marks here. there are all these indications that te'o was kind of leading this along, that hey here is this girlfriend i'm playing for and my teammates are all inspired by this story. you never met the girl? especially now with face time and skype, you never saw her and never met her? notre dame came out and said you don't get it this is what happens here with dating online. who knows why, maybe someone was trying to extort him, maybe there are all sorts of other issues here. he's a victim, he's in an on web can of lies. it may play out that manti is no victim and he kind of built this ace a publicity measure. jenna: we will reserve judgment for that for more facts. they say he's going to come out

today and make some sort of statement. maybe he'll answer some questions as well. it's not inconceivable that someone could be duped in some sort of hoax. for those who are maybe not college sports fans, this -- this athlete was someone that was held up in high regard for not only his performance, his performance in the classroom as one of the good guys out there. how do you think his career is affect stphed is there affected? is there a long-lasting affect to this. will he have the same reaction from fans for example if he never had this girlfriend, he never had this story that was part again of a narrative in college sports. >> he's in the nfl draft in april. he has one of the most powerful nfl agents who has already signed him to a deal. it will be very interesting to see how nfl teams view this guy. i have a heisman vote and in full disclosure he was the one i picked for the heisman, if he didn't win it johnny mandell won it. i mutt manti te'o because of what a leader and positive role

model he was. if this is part of some hoax, is it all a fraud we don't know. listen if a kid fails a marijuana drug test when it's 21 years old, nfl teams won't even draft him because of the character issues, if you're smoking marijuana i don't want you on my team. what if you're part of this? do you want that guy in the locker room? so again he has done several interviews, tearee-i'd interviews where he opens up his heart, an puts the cloudy music, and he's saying, my girlfriend who i loved, and her last words on her death bed were, i love you. if all of that is a lie an was in on it, man i don't know, i don't know if an nfl team wants that in their locker room. jenna: we'll see what happens. as you said if he was indeed really duped and he really had these feelings then that's how he really felt. we'll wait to hear from him. we have the statement but we'll wait to hear from him later today. it's a pleasure to have you on the show. thanks for the time. we look forward to talking to you more about this.

jon: i covered a story once where a guy went to jail after killing a man for a woman he had never met and it was a whole bogus persona. jenna: he was in correspondence with this woman knee was in correspondence with her, killed the guy that she told him to kill, and the woman he thought he was doing this for didn't exist. it was a pre internet era but still. jenna: it will be interesting to see. a lot more facts need to come out. the way the story is being be painted there are so many questions u know, and college football is a really big business. one has to wonder what the consequences are as well for the university if any in this. a lot more to this story and we have another guest coming up for you next hour on it as well. jon: sad however it turns out really. jenna: good point. jon: a fascinating new study that suggests some children can out grow autism but it is a small sample. we'll talk with dr. seeing bell this latest research.

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60 days risk-free! use promo code: onguard. order now, and get this document shredder, a $29 value, free! call or go online now. [♪...] jon: the high-stakes fight now over gun control with new fallout today after the president unveiled his plans. nearly two dozen executive actions touch on a broad range of issues including efforts to improve existing background checks and gun safety along with a push to get congress to bass a pan on military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazines. president obama's action drawing criticism from republican lawmakers and the national rifle association who accuse the president of a power grab that tramples

on the second amendment. let's talk about it with bob cusack, the managing editor of "the hill." i managed he is being criticized by republican lawmakers. there some democrats not too happy about this either. they're not being quite as vocal about it. is that true. >> that is definitely true, jon. fiscal cliff debate will divide republicans. this debate will divide democrats. democrats in conservative red leaning states up for re-election in the senate. they will not be voting for an assault weapons ban. assault weapons ban simply doesn't have vote to pass. other things done, background checks, restrictions on high past magazines? absolutely. tough spot for harry reid. he wants to keep the majority and republicans feel that democrats could overreach. this could be a political win for them. but the president will push very heart, no doubt about it. jon: he says he will push very hard. he promised that yesterday. he will do everything in necessary power to get things done. one of the things in his power is pick up the phone

and call harry reid i need this out of the senate. i need to you approve this. >> that's right. the president will have to make some calls to these conservative-leaning democrats who will be on the fence. that is not something he did in his first term. he will have to really push this. this could be a win-win for the white house they ask for everything, don't get everything and blame congress for only getting a few things through. of course the house is not going to move anything until the senate does. democrats also say, the ones that want these gun control provisions, they have to move very quickly. senator patrick leahy will hold hearings. the momentum is clearly now in the aftermath of the tragedy in connecticut. if they wait too long, if this gets stalled, it may not survive. jon: you said the president is going to blame congress if nothing happens. more specifically, isn't he likely to blame republicans, when as we have just discussed, he has got almost as much opposition among democrats? >> yes. that's right. likely he will criticize republicans and some

democrats when obama last year was criticizing the congress, democrats got a little upset at that. then obama said more republicans in congress because the senate is controlled by democrats and republicans control the house. so it is going to be, i think it will take some time and there will be some votes that republicans want. they want the assault weapons ban vote. this is such a big showdown between the nra and obama. obama didn't take on the nra in his first term. this will be a big, big battle. jon: as you point out, more than half of congress has an a-rating from the nra. >> yes. that's right. and that is a big problem for the white house. they know this is an uphill climb. they have other things on their plate. they have obviously got the debt debate. they have immigration reform. they want to get to energy. how many political capital is obama going to spend? we shall see. jon: that will be the interesting fight. bob cusack from "the hill.". >> thanks, jon. jenna: well the doctor is in now on a very small study

offering what some say could be some encouraging news about autism. researchers say some people with the disorder can overcome it through behavioral therapy and maybe early treatment. university of connecticut study only looked at 34 people initially diagnosed with a higher functioning form of autism and researchers say later showed no signs of the disorder. many doctors caution about this study but our doctor, dr. marc siegel says it is something more about awareness we need to look at here. fox news medical a-teamer and professor at nyu langone medical center. doctor, when we hear about autism we think about something that stays with someone for the rest of their life. how can you recover and recover fully from autism? >> we first have to understand what autism is. autism is developmental disorder t has to do with not being able to interact socially properly, a problem with communication and often repetitive behave, i don't.

we don't always know what causes autism. there is a spectrum. it is called the spectrum. one out of 88 kids have it in the united states. it is number one growing developmental disorder in the country. it is a big, big problem. what i like about this study, for the first time, this study looked at 32 people who actually recovered over the years. it has long been thought by researchers, jenna, a small percentage can recover. jenna: small percentage is what. >> between one and 20%. jenna: that is a big number. one and 20%, that is where they put it? >> that is the big range. one. pioneers of autism, felt with his therapy it could be closer to 40 or 50%. jenna: what type of therapy? >> behavioral. this is what you said at the outset. in other words, here's the question. if you take kids on the autistic spectrum and give them behavioral therapy. reinforce them for learning to behave a certain way, do they get better? that is the question. what i find very exciting about this study, these children did get better

because they were tested in the study versus kids that were autistic the same age and outperformed them on every single test. did they get better for biological reason? is it because of some general at the time ticks? is it therapy or did they mature and grow out of it? that is possibility. jenna: you mentioned cdc, one out of 88 children. a huge jump over in the past decade diagnosed for autism. there are questions about misdiagnosis early on in life. how much of a risk do you think there is for children out there that are developing differently, for being misdiagnosed for having autism? >> jenna, i am very concerned about that and i'm glad you brought it up because i think in this day and age it is a stigma to have a diagnosis like that. you don't want it if you don't have it. on the other hand i believe early intervention really helps. it is a balancing act. we want to get it right for early intervention and

services that help. this is wake-up call for that. you know what, you might get better if you have it and get treatment. maybe we'll find a genetic treatment that will help as well. you don't want to stigmatize kids. i'm always concerned about that. who is doing the diagnosing? what background do they have? how right are they? or, are they considering that a child may need to mature. with my own three kids i've seen different behaviors at different age. >> overall big takeaway, good because of heightened awareness about the possibility of a recovery but still temper with good diagnosis and good research to follow? >> exactly. i think it may be even a wake-up call for people to say, you know what? with treatment these kids can get better. let's make sure to diagnose is it early and diagnose it right. jenna: interesting study. dr. siegel great as always to have you. >> thank you, jenna. jenna: jon? jon: check this out. a firefighter races up a ladder to a burning building trying to rescue people who might be trapped. on the roof of the bidding

lies a very dangerous hazard. wait until you see what happens when the firefighter gets to the top. that is next. she is accused of stabbing her ex-boyfriend 27 times, nearly decapitating him and shooting hill. jodi arias is on trial in arizona. is the jury perhaps not buying the prosecution's case? aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u.s. postal service. we'll even drop off boxes if you need them. visit usps.com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. any time of year. ♪ nice sweater. thank you. ♪ thank you. we've dided to we're all having such a great year in the gulf, put aside our rivalry. 'cause all our states are great. and now is when the gulf gets even bett. the beaches and waters

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and give you tax-free cash from the equity in your home. and here's the best part -- you still own your home. take control of your retirement today. ♪ ♪ jon: of course firefighters are accustomed to battling danger in their line of work. that usually comes in the form of flames and smoke. well, one firefighter faced a very different problem. as he was climbing a ladder to reach people trapped in an apartment building a big chunk of snow clinging to roof suddenly falls on him. hitting the firefighter, sending him tumbling down the ladder. he hung on until another firefighter reached him. a fellow firefighter went on to save a child who was inside that burning apartment building. wow!. jenna: some new information

in the murder trial of jodi arias in arizona. she's the girl that accused of stabbing her ex-boyfriend, travis alexander, 27 times. spare you the details. the bottom line is she admitted to murdering her ex-boyfriend in self-defense. the prosecution says, she did it in a jealous rage. now the trial is far from over but in the state of arizona jurors can ask questions of different witnesses during the trial. and there are some questions that have come up that are raising some eyebrows about potentially the prosecution is being successful here. faith jenkins, former prosecutor. doug burns, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor join us now. interesting kind of twist to this case is these jurors can ask questions. some of the questions they asked of one of the lead investigators is, when interviewing mr. hemant lakhani's roommates did they show concerned for his extended absence? did you check into their alibis? did mr. alexander have anybody else in the house. they're asking a lot of questions about that, faith.

what does it mean to you? >> i was stunned when i heard about juror questions yesterday. as a prosecutor you hear questions like this, you hope, you hope it is one juror, and this is not a unanimous pool of jurors and they want to know these things. because you can't help, the defense attorney has already said in opening statement, and you know opening statements are not evidence but they're putting forth their theory what they think the evidence is going to show. they have already said jodi arias committed this murder. she did it. now the jurors are asking about alibis from roommates? are they listening? jenna: are they questioning, what are they doing, doug? where is this coming from? >> i'm glad faith said the opening statement is not evidence. a point very often jurors don't really realize that. so the normal person is wait a minute, lawyer got up in opening statement said she did the acts that make out a homicide, but she did it in justifiable self-defense. but the reality is, how do you then have notes saying excuse me, who has an alibi? where were the roommates? this and that.

there is old legendary story which is true, in a civil case jury send out the note can we award more than the plaintiff is asking for. the defense lawyers scrambled in hallway in panic and settled case. they asked jurors wanted to know about. we had a defense verdict. somebody was curious. you can't read too much into the notes. that is faith's point. >> that is what we're trout in trying cases. never read too much into juror's notes. how do you address this at end of the day in closing arguments? you look at jurors, there are certain issues you don't have to decide here. when you go back into the jury deliberation room, the question of who did it that is not something you should be debating. the issue was it self-defense. you have to tell them that and narrow the issues for them. jenna: has it seems the prosecution has made a clear enough case that she is cold-blooded murderer, doug or does it seem like they're not getting it home in this trial? >> i know i have defense hat

on, reality she gave three different versions. first i was there, and did nothing. then she said two intruders killed him. then ultimately said i did it but it was in self-defense. my experience, well over 20 years of trying cases you're in bad shape with that right there. you have independent forensic corroboration to a great extent she is the perpetrator. lastly, self-defense, again, i apologize, since i have a defense hat on, but 27 stabs can't be self-defense. jenna: we talked about this before, faith. when you look at this woman, and the murder is gruesome, one could wonder if the jurors, this body stayed in the house for five days. no one found this body. did she work by herself or is there another twist as you're kind of searching to see, you know, innocent until proven guilty? >> i can understand jurors asking those questions because there were roommates there. they weren't living there while the victim was dead in the home. but at the end. day it goes back to, you have to look at the evidence.

people, you have, there are some questions. you want so many answers but you have to focus them at the end of the day on what the issues really are. jenna: really quick here, doug, as a defense attorney. >> yes. jenna: how would you prove that she did this in self-defense? what is going to be your move? >> well the good news on the defense side honestly, there are only two parties to that and one is gone. have her take the stand the guy viciously came at me and so on. you have to hope the jury buys into that on some level. that is only way you did it. >> 27 stab wounds. >> it is hard. jenna: we'll see what other questions they ask along the way. appreciate it. jon, i got them talking about manti te'o te'o. i didn't know if i would get them back on the case. that is big talker. we might have to keep them around. jon: there are very odd stories. jenna: that is it an understatement. jon: a writer for "the wall street journal" could benefit from a press spokesman much like jay

carney's role at the white house. we'll look at that suggestion. should the republican party get an unelected frontman? also, a high school basketball player makes an amazing full court shot to tie the game but the celebration gets cut short. why it didn't count.

jenna: it is a game no one in salem, oregon will forget. toledo high school boomers were down three points with seconds on the clock when the sophomore hurled the basketball in this desperate attempt to tie the game and look what happened. [buzzer] jenna: hear the buzzer goes off. much to everyone surprise. shot goes in. crowd goes wild, celebration begins. only to find out shot didn't

count. only .3 of a second on the clock when it left his hands. the rules say that is not enough time to officially make a shot. but, come on, can't you just give it to him, jon? jon: i thought, i thought as long as the ball was in the air before the buzzer goes off it is okay. jenna: seriously. jon: i guess they have different rules out there. anyway. congratulations to him for making the shot anyway. one writer offers a suggestion to the republican party. daniel henninger, in a "wall street journal" editorial says the gop should create a office of chief party spokesman. sort of like a white house press secretary. he says that the gop could benefit from a consistent and strong voice in washington like this guy gives the administration. maybe one or two voices would represent the republican members of the house. one to speak for the senators. joining us now with her thoughts on that idea, angela mcglowan, fox news political analyst, at first

blush, does it sounds like a good idea? the president when he says something, or has an idea he can send jay carney out to the press room to got the idea out there. everybody writes about it and the president doesn't necessarily have to take the heat. >> the bottom line is this. the republican party does not need a chief spokesperson. republican party needs vision. liberals have been locked in step, jon. white house, dnc, congressional leaders on their liberalling points on the president's agenda. seems like republicans are playing catch-up. let's go back to the contract with america with newt gingrich and bill clinton. the party was unified behind the message. today we're all over the place. colin powell is right to certain extent that the republican party has an identity crisis. jon: if you have one person tasked with delivering the message, wouldn't that be impetus to come up with unified cohesive message? >> there is just not one

person delivering the message. you have the white house press secretary. when you get down to it, the dnc does social network. they tweet. they do facebook. everything out there reaching out to young people. the grand old party is a little bit old. we need to come into where we embrace technology. jon: henninger made that point but said at least the gop in his view should adopt what he called, 20th century technology and come up with sort of the same thing as a white house spokesperson? >> the grand old party is a big tent party and it is a party inclusive of all. we have the log cabin republicans. we have pro-choice republicans we have moderate republicans. we were on one message. with the tea partiers and with boehner not being together, i don't think a spokesperson will solve that. jon: angela mcglowan, thanks for your point of view. >> thanks for having me. jon: jenna? jenna: notre dame's star linebacker he is victim of

someone's sick joke after revealing his girlfriend supposedly of three years who died of lukemia actually never existed. new details emerging in this very strange story top of the hour

>> reporter: hi, everybody, rick folbaum in the control room. you can hear the details of that te' o story over and over again. the bizarre unraveling of what had been one of the most inspirational stories of the last year. we'll talk about it with a journalist straight ahead. also, important news for pregnant women, should you or shouldn't you get a flu shot? the answer is, yes, you should, and we'll tell you why. and maybe those famous $5 footlongs should cost 4.25. are subway sandwiches shrinking? the tale of the tape coming up. all of that and breaking news as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. >> jon: a deadly turn after rebels

seize about 40 hostages in algeria, dozens of those hostages reportedly killed as government troops open fire. all brand new, it's "happening now." i'm jon scott. jenna: i'm jenna lee. details are still sketchy. here's some of what's been reported so far. apparently, well-armed gunmen attacked a gas plant deep in the sahara desert yesterday. you can see where that is, right on the border of algeria and libya on your screen. algerian forces surrounded the complex, and they launched a raid earlier today. now, according to reports some hostages may have escaped, some others may have been killed. algeria'ser into onminister says the rebel gunmen were operating under orders of an al-qaeda leader who operates in north africa. we've been talking about how hot that region is right now for islamic militants or terrorists depending on how you like to label them. national security correspondent jennifer griffin has been

following this story. jen, we mentioned a lot of contradictory reports. walk us through about what we know for sure. >> reporter: well, we do know there are presumed to be still u.s. hostages being held at the facility. there was a release by the hostages, a report suggesting that 35 of the hostages had been killed when the algerians opened fire. we can't confirm that at this time, but what we can confirm is that at around seven a.m. ian time the -- eastern time th algerian military did fire on the facility on what was presumed to be the hostage takers who were presumably in a vehicle at the facility. that's from reports on the ground. our sister network, sky news, has reported in the last hour or so that there was a large explosion at the facility. so this is ongoing. it's very fluid, and it's very difficult to figure out, um, what exactly is happening. we do have this, however, from

an irish foreign ministry spokesman. it says, quote: i am extremely thankful and relieved to learn that the irish national who was held hostage has made contact with his family and is safe. i spoke with his family yesterday, and i know how relieved they will be that he is well after his ordeal. this is the news we all wanted to hear, at the same time my thoughts are with the other oil field workers who are caught up in this terrible situation. and among them, jenna, we now know there are some americans. jenna: because we know there's some americans, you know, what is the role of the u.s. military here? what are they doing, potentially, to help? >> reporter: well, what we can say right now is that no u.s. troops have been deployed to help. there are none who have been asked to go into algeria and assist the algerians. in fact, we've learned that the algerians have rejected offers of help up until now. we can confirm that a u.s. drone has been repositioned over the bp facility. those drones are flown out of

the air base in italy. they fall under africom. we can confirm that from sources. and we also, we know that the commanders in extreme misforce, that's the force that's made up of the top of special operators, they are based in germany, and they are tasked to africom. they are still on standby in germany, they have not been given orders to move. we do know that some operators in north carolina have been mobilized, but unless the algerians ask for help, it is very difficult for the u.s. military to move in. jenna: jennifer griffin live at the pentagon, thank you. jon: so as we wait for some new details from the state department, let's take a look at this grouping blamed for taking those hostages. this map shows a huge area in northwest africa where this group operates. mike baker is a former cia covert operations officer and president of diligence llc, it's a global intelligence and security firm. so in your line of work, you

keep an eye on places like this. >> yes. jon: there are islamic militants who have been moving to the south, right, in algeria? >> this is a -- there's so many layers here, and i don't want to get lost in the weeds, but i think it's important for everyone to understand the context of this. the leaders of this particular hostage after taking incident at this very remote gas facility jointly operated by a norwegian company and bp, that's why there's so many foreign nationalities. but the leaders cut their teeth when the soviets occupied afghanistan, and after that they moved to various jihad causes including in algeria. the algerian military fought what was called the armed islamic group in the '90s, and that was involved in operations in algeria as far as back as the '90s. it was one of the ugliest, nastiest, most violent situations i've ever seen. jon: ruthless. >> ruthless situation. but what it meant was eventually after hundreds of thousands of lives were taken, eventually they got the extremists for the

most part to assimilate, put down their weapons. a lot of them dent didn't. those that didn't moved on to other causes, including into mali. also let me bring in libya because we heard talk about, well, went ghazi -- benghazi emboldened these extremists. i don't think it was that so much as the fact that gadhafi was kicked out of the way, we rushed in there, weapons just dispersed everywhere. a lot of those insurgents involved in the fighting in libya went into algeria, mali. all of this happening in new orleans africa. we shouldn't be surprised because our focus -- but we are because our focus has been on afghanistan. jon: so they had the ideology, now they've got the rep weaponry. >> there's been a resurgent of al-qaeda in the maghreb, and there's been a resurgence in part because of this renewed effort in libya, somalia, you have to throw that in there, the

central african republic is going to be a player in all of this. this is a very, very serious situation. jon: again, we don't know what has happened with this hostage rescue attempt, if that's what it is. reports are as many as 35 hostages have been killed. that does not sound like the kind of thing that, well, that a cia kind of operation with good intelligence would have allowed to happen. >> well, no, but here's the problem. i mean, a very remote area. it's a sovereign state, as jennifer griffin pointed out, unless the the algerian military -- which is very good, very battle hardened. they're very aggressive though too. there's talk they offered the hostage takers the opportunity to leave as lock as they left the -- as long as they left the hostages there. that wasn't picked up on, so that's when they launched the initial assault. but they are very good. unless they ask for us to be there, what are we going to do, drop in unannounced? jon: mike baker, thanks. we'll let our viewers know what happens. jenna: also some new reactions

to the president's push for the most sweeping overhaul of gun laws in herely two -- nearly two decades. the nra executive vice president tells his group's members they're in, quote, the fight of the century. and going on, quote: jenna: again, that from the nra today. senior white house correspondent wendell goler is live at the white house with more. >> reporter: the reaction's been across the spectrum; enthusiasm by gun control supporters, some democrats, frankly, tepid. and on the republican side it's ranged from cold to hotly opposed. harry reid says he won't push legislation if he doesn't think it'll get through the house. speaker john boehner says he'll take a look at what gets through the senate, but he's not making any promises. florida republican senator marco rubio on "fox & friends" this morning says the president doesn't understand the second amendment.

>> there's a second amendment. i didn't write the constitution. it's in there, and i believe in it. and so if you are going to do anything that impacts it, it better make some sense. and here's the problem that i have. by the president's own admission, the things they're putting forward would have done nothing to prevent what happened, for example, in connecticut. i've got four children, i've got my own four children, and i'm deeply worried about this. like everyone, i was outraged about what happened in connecticut. i'm for anything that would prevent horrible things like this from happening again. but this is not about guns, this is about violence. and what we really should be focused on is what is creating this violence in our culture. >> reporter: republicans also blame the mental health system for failing to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them, but they've criticized mr. obama's call for doctors to ask unstable patients if they have guns in their homes. and congress has sometimes expressly forbid the government from studying gun violence. the president says he's going to change that. >> i will direct the centers for

disease control to go ahead and study the best ways to reduce it. and congress should fund research into the effects that violent video games have on young minds. we don't benefit from ignorance. we don't benefit from not knowing the science of this end dem kick of violence. >> reporter: the strategy here is for the president to talk big picture about the terrible costs of gun violence, not just the horror of mass shootings but the toll of daily violence that has claimed 900 lives across the country since newtown. while on capitol hill the legislation will be broken down into pieces. california senator dianne feinstein, the author of the 1994 assault weapons ban, will call on her colleagues to pass it again. new york senator chuck schumer will push for universal background checks, that much more likely to pass. jenna? jenna: wendall goarl with a

great summary for us today. wendell, thank you. jon: we are waiting to hear more from a star college football player at the center of a very bizarre mystery involving a make believe girlfriend. he says he's the victim of a sick joke, but some are asking whether he was in on a massive hoax that fooled a lot of sports journalists. indications are he won't be talking today. plus, is the flu vaccine safe for pregnant women? our doctor weighs in on why it is dangerous not to get yourself a flu shot if you're pregnant. [ loud party sounds ] hi, i'm ensure clear... clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've gotine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach.

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jenna: the doctor is in answering some new questions raised by a big study on the safety of the flu vaccine for pregnant women. some new research is finding that there's no evidence that the flu shot increases the risk

of miscarriage, and it may, in fact, prevent some deaths. dr. lee vinocur is an adjunct assistant professor at the lsu health science center shreveport. before we launch into the flu vaccine, how dangerous is it for a pregnant woman to get the flu? >> well, you know, it isn't, and i think this is finally a big study that will put women at ease. it's true, you know, most pregnant women, they really want to steer clear of any kind of medication. but for the last 50 years, we've been telling them they should get a flu shot because they're more at risk for having serious complications from the flu and dying from the flu. jenna: so just to be clear, there's a bigger risk for pregnant women for getting the flu, just getting sick than it is from getting the vaccine, according to this study. >> yes, absolutely. and there's a risk to the fetus. you know, having a very high fever early on in your pregnancy can increase your risk of neural tube defects and problems with

spine developing in the baby. so there's a real risk to the unb born child. -- unborn child. and, of course, women were always worried could this, you know, could i misor carry from it, and now this is the first, largest study that says absolutely not. actually, there was less of a chance at miscarrying for women that were vaccinated. and, you you know, i think it'sy good news. the other thing is babies under six months of age can't be protected during the flu, so if you have a baby born during the flu season, it's only your vaccination and the passed-on immunity from your passed-on immunity as the mom that babies can be recollected. jenna: -- this study was out of norway, more than 100,000 women they were looking at over a period of 2009 to 2010 when the h1n1 virus was such a big deal. i did notice though in the study, doctor, that it really seemed black and white, just

looking at the survivability of unborn babies. what about any other risk that could associated with the vaccine? are there others that mothers should consider? >> no, there really aren't. you know, people worry about the preservatives in vaccines. there are vaccines that don't have preservatives, that's why we keep them in the refrigerator, and there really are not risks. i think this should put to rest for a lot of women that you will save yourself and your unborn baby and that you really need to protection yourself against the flu. the flu can kill. jenna: i did notice in forway that they did not suggest the flu vaccine for women early on in their pregnancy, that they do it later on in the pregnancy. in the united states, we don't have that same sort of recommendation. any thoughts on that? >> no. and, you know, women have been getting -- we've been redding the flu d recommending the flu vaccine for 50 years, and we haven't seen a lot of those issues at all. so i think it's pretty safe. talk to your ob/gyn and get the

vaccine. i mean, remember during the h1n1 scare mr. president women were -- pregnant women were really diagnose, they were in the icus and dying, so it's a serious illness. jenna: we can't forget how big the flu season is, which is the reason we wanted to make sure we got this story on today. dr. vinocur, thank you. >> thanks for having me. jenna: well, lance armstrong stripped of yet another prize as the justice department faces a deadline today on whether to join a big lawsuit against him. also president obama, you might have heard him this week hitting republicans hard during his news conference, taking them on in the battle over spending cuts and the debt limit. >> and for nearly two years now, i've been fighting for such a plan, one that would reduce our deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade which would stabilize our debt and our deficit in a sustainable way for the next day-to-day. jon: so what about that statement from the president, true or false?

a fact check on that and a bunch of others. we'll have the answers for you coming up.

jon: right now lawmakers are working on a strategy to try to keep the government running. they only have about 4-6 weeks left before the nation hits the national debt ceiling. republicans are calling for budge cuts in return for raising the debt ceiling, but president obama came out swinging during his news conference on monday claiming he's already gone a long way toward closing the budget gap. joining us now to fact check some of his statements, stephen hayes, a senior writer for the weekly standard and a fox news contributor, douglas holtz-eakin is now president of the american action forum. just as a general rule, steven,

when you heard the president speaking in that news conference, was he generally being honest with the american people about the state of our finances? >> well, i would say there were some things he said that were true, some things that he said that were, i think, misleading. importantly, he didn't put into proper context the discussion that we're having nationally about the debt ceiling and about the state of our finances more broadly. if you look at where we are, more than $16 trillion in debt, the president is right when he says that what we're talking about when we're talking about raising the debt ceiling is paying bills we've already racked up, but he's incorrect, in my view, when he suggests the raising of the debt ceiling has nothing to do with limiting future spending. it most certainly does. jon: all right. let's play a sound bite that we played a moment ago in which he would have the nation believe he

has been at the vanguard of trying to cut wasteful spending. listen to this. >> and for nearly two years now, i've been fighting for such a plan, one that would reduce our deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade which would stabilize our debt and deficit in a sustainable way for the next decade. jon: douglas, i'm told and the washington post actually published this, that the president is including in that $4 trillion number something like $850 billion that he does not intend to spend on the or wars in iraq and afghanistan. >> yeah. the $4 trillion number you just can't make add i. i mean -- add up. the key budget gimmicks are, number one, the wars in iraq and afghanistan, counting as savings money that would never be spent. if you look inside his budget proposals, there are a whole bunch of things that he counts as old spending that are really new, increasing pell grants, paying for disasters like sandy. it doesn't count any of that, and that goes against the $4

trillion, makes it smaller. so this is an exercise that's really riddled with budget gimmicks. and the other everyone should know is the $1.2 trillion in the so-called sequester, and who deserves credit for that is in the eye of the beholder or, but it is a law signed by the president, signed by democrats and republicans in congress. the key is it hasn't happened yet, so it's hard to count $1.3 trillion in savings for something that doesn't happen and maybe never will happen. jon: all right. let's listen to another piece of sound from the president about making our debt manageable. play it. >> that would be enough not only to stop the growth of our debt relative to the size of our economy, but it would make it manageable. jon: that's the $4 trillion that he is talking, talking about, sg that if you can cut $4 trillion in spending, that's going to make thingsings hunky dory. is it? >> with well, no, i would say no. for the reasons doug suggests

that $4 trillion isn't really $4 trillion. if it were a real $4 trillion, it would be an effective patch, a short-term fix. what it will not do, however, is change the long-term debt trajectory of the country, and there's really no discussion, particularly discussion that involves the white house on a serious level about changing the debt trajectory of the country. you're not hearing from the president proposals for long-term, structural entitlement reform which everybody in washington, b everybody who's paid even cursory attention to these issues understands is what's really driving our debt. jon: and i just have to let our viewers know that steve is not a marionette, there are cables behind his head for the window washers -- [laughter] who are getting ready to clean the windows there in our washington bureau. let me play one more about spending cuts and tax revenue. >> over the past two years, i've signed into law about $1.4 there trillion in spending cuts. two weeks ago i signed into law more than $600 billion in new

revenue by making sure the wealthiest americans begin to pay their fair share. jon: so how did the white house, doug, arrive at that number, the 1.4 trillion, is that what -- >> i just want to say we all agree on the $600 billion in tax increases, that's the firmest number the president's talked about over the past week. the 1.4 trillion comes from the white house magic abacus. it's got to be at least $1.2 trillion out of the sequester and who knows what else. but i want to go back to what your marionette said. the president is talking about stabilizing the debt. if we do that, we will stabilize the debt at a dangerously high level. that's where we are now. and so the plan is to keep the united states in the danger zone of perpetual finance crisis and anemic growth. and that's just not aggressive enough. he needs to change the trajectory as stephen mentioned. jon: yeah, and, steven, to your point of view he's taking credit or claiming spending cuts that necessarily aren't -- that aren't necessarily there.

>> right. i think for the reasons that doug laid out and, look, i mean, this is a president, i think, who hasn't shown much eagerness to get serious about the debt. when david axlerod, his top adviser, was asked about the president's second term, he never once mentioned debt and deficits. i think ha's an accurate -- that's an accurate reflection of how the president views these issues. jon: stephen, thank you, douglas holtz-eakin, appreciate it. >> thanks, jon. jenna: more questions on this strange story of the notre dame football star and the girlfriend who we now know never existed. was he duped? was he in on it? fresh reaction from a sports writer who has met the player many a time, heard about the girlfriend as well several times in person. so we'll talk to him about that. also, bringing back the milk man, how a fixture from america's past is back with a modern twist. ♪ you know my heart burns for you... ♪ i'm up next, but now i'm sging the heartburn blues.

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right, 60 days risk free-- use promo code: notme. order now and get this document shredder to keep sensitive documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 value, free. call the number on your screen. [♪...] jon: right now the gets surrounding the bizarre story of a star college athlete the dying girlfriend who it turns out never existed. notre dame linebacker man tie te'o saying he is victim of someone's idea of a sick joke after it was revealed his late girlfriend, he said she died of cancer, never really existed. reports last fall of his girlfriend and grandmother dying within each other became the subject of emotional interviews as te'o

inspired play helped lead notre dame on the march to the national championship. >> why me? why them? >> why all this in one day? six hours ago i found out grandma passed away. you take, you know, the love of my life there is a lot of questions and, this is a very dark time. jon: te'o now says he met the young woman on-line and spoke to her on the phone. the university is backing its star player saying its own investigation shows he was duped. here is notre dame athletic director jar swarbuck. >> every single thing about this until the last day of december was real to manti. there was no suspicion it wasn't. no belief it might not be. so the pain was real, the grief was real, the affection was real. and that's the nature of this sad, cruel game.

jon: those things may have been real but the girlfriend was not. talk about it with judson kutcher, announcer for fox sports and len robbins. reporter for "the new york post.". justin, everybody is wondering what in the world is going on here. >> to be honest, i don't think anybody knows what is going on right now. this is one of the most bizarre stories situation we experienced anything, regardless of sports or anything else. it is something you watch tv for, tv shows to see this type of stuff. not reality. i wish i had an answer why this is happening. anybody who you spoke to who knows te'o, who dealt with him in the past. they all say the same thing. it doesn't make sense. the kid's a good kid. he has done well in school. there is no off field issues. then this comes up. nobody knows why. jon: len, you are a guy who

has dealt with te'o. you have spoken to him after games. presented him with a trophy. tell us about that story that you wrote about him in the "new york post" after one of the season-ending victories. >> well, you know, i sat with him for over an hour at a restaurant in charlotte back on december 3rd. i sat with his parents for another hour after that. he really is one of these kids all things to all people. great football player. great teammate. great leader. great student. i think what justin said is right on. this is the most bizarre story i have ever come across in 30 years of sports journalism. and, you know, we're entering a new age, guys. we're now having to talk to our kids, ourselves about what is going on the internet. who do you really know is real out there? jon: well after notre dame beat usc, you encountered him after the game. it had been a great game. you know, capped a perfect

season to that point for notre dame and you said something to him, could it get any better than this. and he said what? >> he said, yeah. if my grandmother and lennay were here. that story at that point was two, three months old. allegedly these deaths took place on september 11th. thing i remember even more poignant him standing out on spartan field with the tear marks clearly down his face. the sweat marks clearly down his face, talking about what a difficult week it had been. talking how he lost his family but now he had the notre dame family. i really do believe at the get-go, for the majority of this manti te'o was duped. i will take that with me to my grave. jon: justin, a lot of people think he might not have done as well as he did in the heisman trophy race had there not been the story of him persevering through all this personal tragedy, especially the death of the

imaginary girlfriend. >> to be honest with you, i don't think that is the case. te'o wasn't a heisman candidate really weak 7, week 8. this story broke very early on and the story of him pushing through and how he led the team to a victory over michigan state. to me it is not as big of an issue as becoming a heisman candidate. i think it was just, this year. notre dame was undefeated. he was a star linebacker. he was making plays. there was not a lot of other candidates out there until john any manziel stepped up late. just so happened this backstory was there. jon: didn't the backstory push the narrative, the heroics, perseverance line? you. >> know for me it didn't because to me it is a fact that here is notre dame, a storied program who had been essentially down in the dumps for many years. they were undefeated. they had this great season and they were led by a guy who could have gone pro last

year but said he wanted to come back and help lead this team back to where it once was. to me that was the story. that he helped lead this team. that he came up with some big defensive stops. that he had the interceptions that helped them get to the bcs championship game. jon: len, you met his parents. spent time with his parents and they talked about the late girlfriend, right? >> yeah. they did but again, i think it is important to remember that almost all the information that most of the people were getting was coming from their son. and i think you have to understand the life of a college football player is very different than a student athlete. you are locked down almost 24/7 in terms of the amount of time that is accounted for. every hour is almost scripted into your life. so --. jon: so you don't find it surprising, you don't find it surprising on that basis that he would have carried on a romance with a woman he never physically met? >> one part i have a hard

time with, why didn't he ever say to her, let's get on skype. >> exactly. >> if this was a internet relationship, okay, well, we've got the internet, let's get on skype. that is the one part i'm having trouble wrapping my head around. jon: it is possible, suggestions this acquaintance was involved in this and put a woman forward whose voice he knew on the phone who simply was an imposter? >> i will say this, the second part rubbing me the wrong way was notre dame's decision not to go to law enforcement authorities because, even if they feel like no crime was committed here, specifically, or they feel that manti was the vick full and notter dame wasn't, i feel they had a moral responsibility to alert law enforcement, and these people, they know who it is because they hired private investigators, they're doing this. what is to say they're not doing it to someone else? if they really want transpair return ebbsy -- transparency here, i think

they should have done that. jon: lenn robbins from the "new york post" believes manti was duped. what do you think, justin? >> honestly i think it is too early to make a judgement. we don't know everything. i'm waiting for more information to come out and see how it plays out. i don't want to make a judgement whether he was duped or whether he was part of it because it is so bizarre i can't wrap my brain around it right now. jon: the whole nation is talking about it. we certainly are, justin kutcher, lenn robbins, thank you both. if you find out anything new and interesting in this very weird case please get back to us. thanks. >> thanks, guys. >> thank you. jenna: really interesting point by lenn, going to authorities and where the police involvement will be here. we'll continue to watch that story. meantime we want to turn to the economy here. some brand new jobs numbers from the labor department today as we get them on thursday every week. the number of americans filing for unemployment benefits down in the latest week to the lowest level since 2008. now remember these numbers change week to week.

they could be highly volatile. january numbers in particular can be erratic as norm employers return to normal practices. lay off temporary workers they hired for the holidays. this is the time which talk to small business owners that are thriving in this economy. this story certainly caught our eye. this is the founder of farm to home milk. i can translate that to our viewers, jonathan, you are a modern day milk man. you decided to go into the business after having whole other career suddenly, recently. why? why did you choose to be a milk man of all things? >> well we how the it would be fun. i've been a writer and corporate consultant, speechwriter and everything else for about the last dozen years. was really ready to do something different, something not corporate. something that was local. i have a kids that are seven and 11. something they could see was simple.

can see a simple way to make a dollar. talk about food around the table. talk about cows and chickens. something the family can do together. my wife can participate in. so we took a trip this summer. we camped for two months. went out west, just decided we want to do something new. we're on the lookout for it. when we were in denver we saw that our friends still got whole milk delivery. investigated it. realized there was a dairy in denver that never stopped doing home milk delivery, did it 85 years. kept going. do it around the country. saw what was happening. people were delivering milk, meat, so forth. realized it sounded like fun. this is something we can do. jenna: so here you are. >> came home and wrote a business plan and crazy enough here i am doing it. jenna: you've been doing it now for, this a new year. it is a new business. you've been operating fully for two weeks. how are things going? >> that's right. jenna: what is the customer base like? what does the year ahead look like for you?

>> well, it has been pretty wild. we wrote our business plan and projected we would add about 25 customers per month. and in the first two weeks we have 175 customers. jenna: wow. >> they keep coming in. i was up at 4:0 this morning running a route. had to come down here. my wife still had to finish last like seven customers. i couldn't get to it. so you know, first of all my town of ashvillewe have great local food distribution. we have people making all kind of wonderful organic meats, eggs poultry, et cetera. jenna: the average price of milk in this country is around $3.50, 3.65. how do you compete with those prices and get people to buy in? >> right. well, we deliver bottled on farm glass bottle milk. so the kind of milk i'm delivering never been on a tanker truck. never been to a distribution center. delivered from a small dairy outside of chapel hill, north carolina. fifth generation family farm.

the milk tastes wonderful. it is in glass bottles. delivered right to your door in dairy box. reusable bottles. i pick up the empties next week. our prices are very reasonable. if you go into whole foods and buy a organic milk, we'll be right around that same price. jenna: well we have great video of you doing your job. great pictures. we look forward checking in six months to see howe things are going. congratulations making a move and taking a risk. sound like things are going great. >> thank you. jenna: farm to home milk.com is your website. jonathan, best of luck. thanks so much. >> thanks so much for having me, jenna. jenna: makes you thirsty, right? jon: it does. good for him. there are reports americans have escaped from their militant captors in algeria. we'll try to get to the bottom of that. what we know about the jihadist mastermind behind the at cac and his connections to al qaeda. a live report on that ahead. speaking of dealing with militants that is an

everyday threat in israel. meet an elite israeli commando unit whose job it is to take out the bad guys. what are you doing? nothing. are you stealing our daughter's school supplies and taking them to work? no, i was just looking for my stapler and my... this thing. i save money by using fedex ground and buy my own supplies. that's a great idea. i'm going to go... we got clients in today. [ male announcer ] save on ground shipping at fedex office.

jon: israel seeing a rise in islamic extremism along its border with the sinai peninsula of egypt. ever since the revolution in that country. our leland vittert got to go along with an elite israeli commando unit whose job it is to deal with those extremists. he joins us live from jerusalem. >> reporter: jon, it is certainly a growing problem. these guys have no shortage of business there along the border and we're finding al qaeda syndicate groups, militants out of gaza, jihadists are not only using the lawlessness in the sinai peninsula to regroup, rearm,

and train but also to launch attacks against israel. seen in surveillance video, militants and smugglers use everything from camel trains to fence ramming jeeps as we move weapons from egypt to israel. the organizations coming here are an army. we are ready for them as if we were going out to war, explains the unit commander of israel's border police commando unit. a rapid reaction force, seen here training to keep the growing number of al qaeda fighters, jihadists and other militants taking over egypt's sinai peninsula from coming across this 120 mile long border. for only thing the separating egypt an israeli border is the road we're driving along now. now there is steel reenforced fence with barbed-wire and along the road heavily armed fighters ready for combat at a moment's notice. when they make it across the

border there are deadly consequences. they attacked a bus killing four civilians and four soldiers. the egyptian border is barren landscape. all these commandoes prefer to work during the night, often times they're forced to intercept smugglers during the day, poreses them to rely on tried and true measures of camouflage. where behind me are hidden half a dozen commandos, heavily armed and ready to pounce on prey they are waiting days to come across the border? and obviously the egyptians have tried to do some work there inside the sinai peninsula. so far, jon, they don't either have the political will power to take care of these militant groups or for that matter the military experience. back to you. jon: wow, incredible footage there. leland vittert. thank you. jenna: the president setting his sights on gun control using recent tragedies to target assault weapons and gun owners.

what about fixing the nation's mental health system? that is an angle we'll take up in just a moment here on fox news

jenna: yet more disgrace for cycling legend lance armstrong. the associated press is reporting that he has been stripped of his olympic bronze medal. as we await his much-anticipated sit down with oprah winfrey tonight. rick has more from the newsroom. rick? >> the big interview airs tonight. a lot of people will be interested to hear what he has to say. armstrong is said to offer some kind of a confession admitting to oprah winfrey taking performance-enhancing drugs during some portion of his cycling career. the interview says armstrong comes clean but not in the way she was expecting him to. orm are armstrong texted the aphe left it on the inter --

he left it all on the table. he has been stripped of everyone of his tour de france tight else. his olympic medal as you mentioned. all his records. he is banned from competing. he is faces a number of lates including one brought by a former teammate over armstrong's years of denial that he was using performance-enhancing drugs. the u.s. justice department has today to decide whether or not the justice department wants to join in on that suit. back to you. >> we'll look at that news. rick, thank you. jon: they call them subs in lots of places. grinders in boston. hoagies in philly. subway sets a lot of them, the famous foot-long sandwich. there is a big controversy over the actual length. we'll tell you about that and put it to the actual test.

>> it's now time for our investigative piece on happening now. >> that's right. >> deeply researched. it's a subway scandal that started overseas and now made

the front page of the new york post today. there it is, a lot of concern about whether or not a foot long sandwich is really a foot long. (laughter) the fast food chain subway has talked a lot about the sandwich. >> sure. >> a key sandwich for them and an investigation of subway outlets around the city found many of the sandwiches are not a foot long. >> started with a customer in australia. >> angry about a 11 inch sandwich and the story went viral and customers photos online about the sandwiches and how long they were and subway hasn't really responded so we decided that we needed to get to the bottom of it. >> we asked them for a statement and haven't heard from them yet, but we do have straight from the national bureau of standards. >> that's right. >> an official certificated 12-inch ruler. can it be trusted. >> yes. >> it's 12 inches long, every bit of 12 inches long. >> the at least at this subway.